3 - Jesuit Anti-Judaism and the Fear of Eliano’s Jewishness on the First Mission to the Maronites of Lebanon

Summary

This chapter begins with a brief sketch of Eliano’s time as preacher and professor of Hebrew and Arabic at the Jesuit college in Rome (1563–77). During this period, however, leading Jesuits moved away from admitting men of Jewish lineage into the Society of Jesus. As the only Jewish-born Jesuit, Eliano found himself on the outs with his superiors, such as when Eliano was not trusted to lead the mission to Lebanon called by Pope Gregory XIII in 1577. Yet, his skills were deemed valuable, so he was relegated to interpreter and translator for the mission’s superior, Tommaso Raggio. However, once the mission began, Raggio's inexperience was evident. In turn, neither Eliano nor the Maronites wished to work with Raggio, and the mission was aborted within months. This chapter ends with Eliano’s return to Rome. Chapter Three illuminates the tension that Jesuit leaders had with Eliano. On one hand, they saw in him a uniquely skilled Jesuit because his Jewish youth trained him for this very work. On the other hand, increased institutional skepticism of Jewish-lineage Jesuits meant that his superiors were unwilling to let him lead, lest his potential crypto-Judaism sabotage the mission.